iPhone SE: Consumers say "meh" on opening weekend

Consumers aren't flocking to the iPhone SE according to new data from Localytics that, frankly, comes as no surprise. Apple's new 4-inch iPhone packs a lot of the innards in its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus flagships, just in a much smaller form factor. While sales may pick up over time, they weren't very good during the phone's opening weekend.

Localytics found that the iPhone SE gained just 0.1 percent market share among iPhones after opening weekend. That's not really a surprise, it takes a while for a new phone to catch up to others that have been on the market for many months or years. However, Localytics noticed that the install base for the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c dipped. That would suggest that consumers might choose the iPhone SE to replace those devices but, instead, they were buying up the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

There were other bad signs for the iPhone SE, too.

Localytics said the phone had the lowest early adoption of all recent iPhones, dating back to the iPhone 5s. It cited the same 0.1 percent figure during opening weekend. "The larger screen models and the iPhone 5S all had better opening weekends than the iPhone SE," Localytics explained. "In 2013, the iPhone 5S captured .9% of the Apple iPhone market in its first weekend of sales. Even the larger 'Plus' models released in 2014 and 2015 (the 6 Plus and 6S Plus) fared better than the SE, at .3% each compared to the SE's .1%."

The iPhone SE may, ultimately, pick up steam in markets such as China and India where the price point may be more attractive to consumers. So far, though, it looks like this phone has a lot of growing to do.